y saw behind them
a whirling black group on the snow. Presently the groom screamed. He saw
his father's sledge overturned, with his mother and sisters. He sprang
up as if he meant to jump, but the girl shrieked and held him back. It
was even then too late. The black ground-shadows were already crowding
over the heap in the road, and one horse ran out across the fields, his
harness hanging to him, wolves at his heels. But the groom's movement
had given Pavel an idea.

They were within a few miles of their village now. The only sledge left
out of six was not very far behind them, and Pavel's middle horse was
failing. Beside a frozen pond something happened to the other sledge;
Peter saw it plainly. Three big wolves got abreast of the horses, and
the horses went crazy. They tried to jump over each other, got tangled
up in the harness, and overturned the sledge.

When the shrieking behind them died away, Pavel realized that he was
alone upon the familiar road. 'They still come?' he asked Peter.

'Yes.'

'How many?'

'Twenty, thirty--enough.'

Now his middle horse was being almost dragged by the other two. Pavel
gave Peter the reins and stepped carefully into the back of the sledge.
He called to the groom that they must lighten--and pointed to the bride.
The young man cursed him and held her tighter. Pavel tried to drag her
away. In the struggle, the groom rose. Pavel knocked him over the side
of the sledge and threw the girl after him. He said he never remembered
exactly how he did it, or what happened afterward. Peter, crouching in
the front seat, saw nothing. The first thing either of them noticed was
a new sound that broke into the clear air, louder than they had ever
heard it before--the bell of the monastery of their own village, ringing
for early prayers.

Pavel and Peter drove into the village alone, and they had been alone
ever since. They were run out of their village. Pavel's own mother
would not look at him. They went away to strange towns, but when people
learned where they came from, they were always asked if they knew the
two men who had fed the bride to the wolves. Wherever they went, the
story followed them. It took them five years to save money enough to
come to America. They worked in Chicago, Des Moines, Fort Wayne, but
they were always unfortunate. When Pavel's health grew so bad, they
decided to try farming.

Pavel died a few days after he unburdened his mind to Mr. Shimerda, and
was buried